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Polk Audio TSi100 Bookshelf Speakers Reviews

by admin on August 11, 2014

The Polk Audio TSi100 is one of two bookshelf speakers in the company’s mid-line TSi series (TSi 100/200), The two-way TSi100 utilizes two Dynamic Balance drivers – a 1-inch silk-dome tweeter coupled to one 5.25-inch Bi-Laminate Organic Fiber cone woofer, crossed over at 2.5 kHz with a 2nd order (12db/octave) filter.
The TSi100 employs one rear-firing port, and provides a handy keyhole mounting bracket.
The port blends well with the cabinet, as does the driver array (the “sliced” tweeter design, also used on the TSi200, looks particularly neat and clean on the two-driver, TSi100), the top plate lends a glossy touch, and the wood grain finish stays smooth and even throughout.

The Polk Audio TSi100 are available on Amazon at over 40% off retail price!

Features and Specifications

Just like its big brother, the TSi100 presents a nominal 8 ohm load with an 89db efficiency. The speaker was a little easier to drive than the TSi200, but still benefited from better quality receivers and amplifiers. However, you could use these speakers with just about any good quality receiver or amplifier. For its size, the TSi100 presented a very nice soundstage, with good depth and width and precise imaging over a wide array of electric and acoustic material.
The TSi100’s bass simply didn’t have quite the extension and punch of other, albeit more expensive, monitors available. For its price, its low end performance ranked solidly amongst its competition, and only a bit behind the rest of its performance. The port didn’t seem to make too much noise, and stayed pretty much out of the way. The TSi100 did sound just a touch richer and fuller when placed closer to the rear wall.
Overall, the TSi100 left a terrific impression as a sort of budget version of a good British mini-monitor. Balanced, listenable, crisp, a bit lightweight, but very coherent and enjoyable, it also seemed to retain its overall character regardless of material. While it excelled with classical, jazz, and acoustic material, rock and electronic music sounded very good, as the design’s overall musicality stole the show and made the design’s absolute bass limitations seem irrelevant – which, incidentally, is exactly what quality small speakers do.
Another advantage Polk Audio Tsi100 is the ability to sound very loud, without any distortion and compression. The big bet here is on accuracy and glamor upper band. Sometimes this even monitors showing excessive zeal, giving the brightness of any sound material. Dynamic rock – this is their true calling, “intelligent” genres are presented not as adequately due to some subtle timbral simplify the drawing.

Help & Support

The Polk Audio TSi100’s cabinet is one of its most outstanding attributes. It’s very sturdy and well braced with 3/4-inch baffles. The structure contributes to the bookshelf speaker’s realistic sound and virtually eliminates distortion. There’s a rear-firing bass-reflex port to enhance bass response, and the speaker includes a keyhole style wall mount. Wall mounting, however, tends to mitigate the benefit of the bass reflex design.

The speaker is available in a black or cherry wood-grain finish that looks more natural than most bookshelf speakers in this price range. It also features a piano black top which we found attractive.

Polk Audio TSi100 Summary

The Polk Audio TSi100 is a high-quality bookshelf speaker that sounds good for music or as part of a home theater system.